§ Mr. Simeonsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will call for a report from the chief constable as to the number of bookshops in Luton which have been raided by the police in the last three years, stating the number of occasions in respect of each shop;
(2) if he will call for a report from the chief constable as to the number of prosecutions brought by the police in respect of each bookshop raided in Luton in the past three years, stating the results of each prosecution.
§ Mr. SharplesThe chief constable informs me that in the last three years two shops have been searched once and one twice under warrants issued under the 297W Obscene Publications Act, 1959. In one case a prosecution followed, as a result of which the defendants were fined £40 and the publications seized were destroyed.